By: Grace Wright

John Cook has been the head coach of Nebraska Cornhuskers Volleyball for the last 25 years. He has just recently announced his retirement from the team. John Cook started coaching first at Wisconsin in 1993, for 7 years, and then has been at Nebraska for the last 25.

John has helped lead Nebraska Volleyball to four national championships and 12 NCAA semifinals. Also with many Big Ten and Big 12 titles. John Cook has had a long standing history with helping women’s volleyball get coverage and appreciation for the sport. One of the biggest things he has done was have his team play in the outdoor football stadium in 2023. It was a huge success, 92,003 people filled up the Memorial Stadium and history was made.

John Cook has also built up many unbreakable relationships; one of his most memorable is with one of his current players Harper Murray, an outside hitter from Michigan.

His successor is Dani Busboom Kelly (DBK). She used to play under Coach Cook and was the starting libero on the Nebraska 2006 national championship team.  She took a break from volleyball once she graduated, but then she came back to be an assistant coach for Cook for 4 years before she went to Louisville. DBK has been with the Louisville Cardinals for the last 8 years building it into a very influential volleyball team. She has led them to two NCAA championships, 3 semifinals and won four ACC titles.

Many of the Nebraska players were shocked but happy that John Cook was able to choose what was best for him. For the rest of the volleyball community cannot wait to see what DBK is going to be able to do at Nebraska.

 For more information about Nebraska volleyball, you can go to: https://www.ncaa.com/news/volleyball-women/article/2025-01-29/nebraska-volleyball-coach-john-cook-retires-after-25-seasons-4-national-titles#:~:text=LINCOLN%2C%20NE%20—%20Four%2Dtime,great%20run%2C”%20Cook%20said.